Dominate Your Market: The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Guide

If you own and operate a small business, it’s often challenging to keep your business profitable. A lot of small businesses shut down early due to a lack of growth and a big customer base. And if the small business owners do not have expertise in marketing, the survival becomes even more difficult.

For them, the dilemma is tiring. Many small businesses are tight on budget and hence they cannot hire quality marketing agencies. When they cannot hire such agencies, they do not get more customers and this, in turn, impacts their budget!

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So this is a vicious cycle that small businesses have to break if they want to survive. With limited time and budget, making the most out of every dollar and minute is crucial.

But that doesn’t mean there is no way out! If you are facing the same issue as a small business owner, fret now. You’ve landed at the right place. In this blog, I am going to share some helpful tips that can transform your small business’s marketing and put you at the forefront! So, let’s get started.

How to grow your small business?

Manage Local Data & Listings

One of the most common problems with marketing for small businesses is their dud local presence. The issue is they are not aware of these problems in the first place! Remember, a powerful local presence will ensure people looking for your product or service do not bounce off to your competitors.

But how exactly do you fix this problem?

How to grow your small business?

Well, I prefer using Semrush’s Listing Management feature. Let me give you a brief explanation of marketing for small businesses:

Login to your Semrush account, click on the “Local” option in the left-side menu, and select the “Local Listing” option. This is what your screen will show.

Now, enter the name, website, or phone number of your business that’s registered with Google. I decided to take the example of the JG Melon burger in NYC. These guys sell crazy good burgers and are one of the most popular burger joints in the region.

Once I entered their website and hit search, Semrush came up with detailed information about their local presence. It showed me their Online presence, Average star rating, and Total reviews. The best part? It also gave me information about what listings they can fix to create a stronger presence.

Apart from this, you can manage your Google Maps ranking, Manage your Online Reputation and Manage your Reviews. Such granular insights help you take prompt actions and optimize your local presence.

Improve your On-page SEO

After fixing your local listing issues, it’s time to fix the on-page SEO of your website. Now this is very very important. A lot of small businesses either don’t have a budget to hire an SEO agency or they don’t pay attention to this aspect.

But that can kill your business, to be honest. A strong On-page SEO means more people will be attracted to your website and they will spend more time on your website. Result? Your overall SEO score will improve, your website will rise on Google indexing and you will become more popular.

So, I strongly recommend fixing your On-page SEO. And I have an affordable solution where you don’t have to burn your hard-earned cash on some SEO agency. You can simply use the On-page SEO Checker from Semrush.

This tool is really helpful. It offers a detailed breakdown of all the optimization ideas for your website. And when you have such a detailed insight, you can increase your traffic significantly. 

As you can see, the SEO On-page checker has 201 optimization ideas for my website. I am going to fix each one of them and this can improve my On-page SEO score a lot.

These ideas include Backlink ideas, Content ideas, User experience ideas, Technical SEO ideas, SERP features ideas, and a lot more. When you start fixing them one by one, you get the best results.

Scale up your Content Marketing game

There is a reason why Bill Gates said “Content is King” more than 2 decades ago. The content is something that connects you with your potential customers. Today, people consume content in multiple formats, so small businesses need to identify the most popular content ideas and use them.

Now, this can be a challenging job. The amount of content online is exhaustive. People are creating and uploading content like crazy! Once AI entered the market, the content glut became too real. In such times, you need a tool that you can use to identify the best content ideas.

That’s where Semrush’s Topic research feature comes in. This outstanding feature is something that almost every content creator craves. Using this feature, you can identify the most trending, popular, and engaging content ideas based on your niche.

Recently, I was writing a blog related to e-books. But I knew there was a load of content on the generic topic. So I decided to use the Topic Research feature for the same. All I did was enter what I wanted to write about, picked the location and the Semrush did its magic.

This is what Semrush came up with.

As you can see, Semrush came up with multiple content ideas for different platforms. If you don’t know, let me make this very clear. Each platform has a specific type of content that works well on it. So depending on what you are creating, you can pick the topics.

Let’s say you are creating content for Amazon Kindle. So when you hit the “Show More” button, Semrush will give you all the details, content ideas, and relevant questions that people are looking to answer.

You can use any of these topics to plan your content. Apart from this detail, Semrush also offers information on the Subtopic volume, Difficulty, and Topic Semrush. This can further aid you in planning content for your Small Business.

Using this feature, I created a very detailed and high-traffic blog on How to Create and Sell eBooks online. So I can say that this feature works well.

Taking one step ahead, Semrush also gives you a mind map of the relevant topics. Such a visual representation of the information ensures you don’t have to sift through docs to find topics quickly. I love this feature!

Write Killer Content

Now that you have a topic ready, it’s time to move on to creating content. Now as I said earlier, the digital world is experiencing a content glut. So your content has to be killer, impactful, SEO-optimized, and well-crafted.

Now, if you hire a content writing agency, they can do phenomenal work. But the only problem? They might charge a premium, depending on the content quality you want. So, how do you get out of this problem? Well, Semrush is here to rescue you once again! As a Small business owner, it’s understandable that you neither have the time nor resources to hire a writing agency.

So Semrush assists you with its AI content generator. You probably know about the “Writing Assistant” feature of Semrush. But now, Semrush has come with an entirely mindblowing tool called ContentShake AI. Instead of just giving you an outline of the content, this AI content generator writes the entire content for you.

You can start using the ContentShake AI from the left-hand menu bar of the main Semrush dashboard. When you open it the first time, it will ask you some basic questions related to your business and then you are good to go.

As you can see, the ContentShake AI will present you with multiple ideas for articles based on the information that you have provided. You can either pick any of the topics that the tool has offered or you can use your ideas too!

Let’s say I want to write a blog on “Crypto Investment Tips for 2024″. All I have to do is put in the topic and hit “Start Writing.”

The tool will automatically analyze the topic and will come with suggestions for writing the Title, Target Keywords, and Word Count. The tone of voice and Readability level!

ContentShake AI does this by analyzing what your peers are doing. But if you want, you can always optimize this information to customize the inputs as per your needs. Once done, hit the “Create article” button and ContentShake AI will work out its magic.

The tool will start creating the article for you. It will analyze what your competitors are doing, what type of keywords they are working on, and what type of images they are using.

The best part is, that the tool adds images too in your article, along with the reference links! This eliminates a lot of hard work of finding and adding images on your part.

But that’s not the end. The tool itself analyses the article’s SEO score and offers you an option to edit the article before you go live with it! You can optimize tone, readability, and writing style either manually or using AI.

I have tested AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Writesonic, and more. But man, I have never come across such granular fine-tuning options! As Semrush is itself the best SEO tool and content-optimization tool, you get dual benefits. If you ask me, this is the best article-writing tool right now in the market. And what’s more interesting is, you can directly publish your article, right from here!

Cherry on the top? You can use this tool to create social media posts too! You have to put in certain information, like the aim of your post, and word count. Apart from that, the tool also offers an option to create Social Media Posts! All you have to do is add topic information and tone and you are ready to roll.

Competitor Analysis

This should be an integral part of any Small businesses marketing plan. But in most cases, it isn’t! Businesses ignore competitor analysis as long as they are getting some sort of business. But that’s the wrong approach.

It’s possible that there could be a plethora of opportunities available for you. Your competitors may be tapping untouched niches where profit margins are sky-high. They might be targeting a customer segment that has higher conversion rates.

So, imagine what you can do if you have that data within your grasp. Imagine the conversions and business expansion you can achieve with such granular detail.

That’s where Semrush’s Traffic Analytics can come in handy. This tool is super easy to use and super helpful. E.g., I want to analyze how one of my competitors is ranking and performing online. All I have to do is enter their website’s domain name, and Semrush will take care of the rest.

As you can see, Semrush quickly came up with crucial details about my competitor. Here’s what information you get from Traffic Analytics:

Overview

This tab provides a general snapshot of the website’s traffic metrics. This includes visits, unique visitors, and engagement statistics such as pages per visit, average visit duration, and bounce rate. This is crucial for a quick assessment of your competitor’s site’s traffic health and immediate performance.

Audience Overview

This section dives deeper into the demographics and behavior of the website’s visitors. It can offer insights into visitor loyalty, new vs. returning visitors, and demographic data. So, based on what audience your competitors are targeting, you can optimize your strategy accordingly.

Traffic Journey

This section offers insights into the paths users take to arrive at the site and what they do afterward. With this information, you get to know how your competitor is bringing in the traffic!

That’s the coolest thing according to me. When you know what and from where your target audience can come, you will focus your energy there. Result? More traffic and more conversions.

Top Pages

By highlighting the most visited pages, this tab helps identify which content performs best. So you know what type of content resonates with your target audience too as both you and your competitor will have a somewhat similar target audience.

Subfolders

Analysis of traffic to different subfolders can reveal how particular sections of the site perform. This can be extremely useful in creating new sections on your website or how to optimize the ones you already have.

Subdomains

This is similar to subfolders but focuses on traffic to any subdomains associated with the main site. It’s beneficial for businesses managing multiple subdomains as part of their digital strategy.

Geo Distribution

Understanding where the site’s visitors come from can help in tailoring content and marketing strategies to specific regions, optimizing for languages, or adjusting product offerings based on geographic preferences.

Strengthen Your SEO with Backlinks

Analyze Your Backlink Profiles

If small businesses want to grow, they need quality backlinks. This is because quality backlinks impact their search engine rankings and online visibility. Quality backlinks from reputable sites tell search engines that your content is credible. This can boost your rankings and lead to increased organic traffic. 

And if you are a small business that relies on search engines to compete against big shots, backlinks become critical. They have massive coffers to compete with you. So what do you do? You play smart. You use backlinks to bring direct traffic from other websites and introduce new audiences to your brand. 

Result? You get more traffic to your website, and your business credibility shoots up, too. And with this, up goes your trustworthiness. And remember, trust is all that your business needs to grow. Today, people like to connect with businesses based on trust and not just value prepositions.

Furthermore, backlinks are unlike paid advertising which only works for as long as you fund it. Instead, they continue to influence your site’s traffic and search engine status long after they are established.

This makes backlink building a cost-effective strategy for sustained growth, essential for small businesses looking to maximize their marketing investments.

Now, the question is, how can you build a powerful backlink profile? Well, for that, you have Semrush. This tool was designed specifically for managing backlinks back in the day. So, it obviously can skyrocket your backlink profile.

Just open their Backlink Analytics feature in the Link Building Section, enter your domain name, and it will come with an entire backlink profile of yours.

Here you will find a plethora of details. Let’s understand how each of them can be helpful for your small business.

Overview

This tab gives you a glance at your backlink profile. This is critical for understanding the impact of SEO efforts. Knowing the number and quality of backlinks helps gauge online visibility and overall brand presence, which are key for attracting more traffic and potential customers.

Network Graph

For your small business, visualizing the link network can uncover relationships and influential domains within your industry. This knowledge can guide outreach efforts. Result? You can build partnerships that boost credibility and online authority.

Backlinks

Detailed insights into each specific backlink allow you to pinpoint high-quality links and potentially harmful ones that might impact their SEO negatively. This is crucial for maintaining a healthy digital footprint and avoiding penalties from search engines.

Anchors

Analyzing the anchor text in backlinks helps you understand how search engines and users perceive your site content. It’s a chance to align external link texts with targeted keywords, enhancing relevance and search rankings.

Referring Domains

When you know which domains link to your site, it can help you identify key allies and influencers in their niche. This tab is essential for evaluating the diversity and authority of the site’s backlink profile, influencing how search engines trust and rank their site.

Indexed Pages

This tab shows how many of the business’s pages are recognized and indexed by search engines. For a small business like yours, ensuring your content is properly indexed is key to being found by potential customers searching online.

Outbound Domains 

When you know where your links lead can help you ensure you are associated with reputable sites and enhance their trustworthiness. It also prevents potentially harmful links that could detract from your site’s credibility.

Build Quality Links

Link building is a cornerstone of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It involves the acquisition of hyperlinks from other websites to your own. This is extremely important in improving your website’s authority and search engine visibility. 

 Search engines like Google use links as a major ranking factor; they view links as endorsements from other sites. This can significantly boost your site’s credibility and search rankings. Moreover, link building helps drive referral traffic, expanding your site’s reach and potentially increasing conversions. 

For small businesses, this means improved visibility and enhanced brand recognition and authority in their industry. This makes it a critical strategy for growth and competitive advantage in the digital marketplace.

You can use Semrush’s backlink-building tool for this purpose. The tool will ask you for a few keywords for which you want to build links. Once done, Semrush will start its research to help you find the best link-building opportunity.

All Prospects

This figure indicates the number of potential websites small businesses could reach out to for backlinks. For small businesses, identifying a large pool of prospects is crucial as it increases the chances of acquiring high-quality backlinks. This is instrumental in improving search engine rankings.

Keywords

This area highlights the keywords associated with these prospects. You can use this information to target your link-building efforts more effectively. It will ensure that the backlinks you pursue are relevant to your niche and likely to drive targeted traffic.

Competitors

This count shows how many competitors are also targeting these prospects. This can help you strategize your outreach and differentiate your requests or focus on less contested prospects to increase success rates.

Uploaded, Lost Backlinks, Rejected

These metrics are useful for tracking the progress and effectiveness of a link-building campaign. You can monitor which strategies are working, adjust your approach based on link rejections, and respond quickly to lost backlinks to maintain your SEO strength.

Enhance your Small business Marketing.

Pheww… That’s been some writing and reading! Small businesses have limited resources to spend but they have one thing in abundance. They are flexible and agile. So if you deploy proper and effective strategies, you can make your Small Business profitable rapidly. The steps I mentioned above are just a starting point.

As you begin your small business marketing process, you will have a question, “how can I grow my business?” But as you move ahead, you will come across numerous such opportunities to optimize your business. So go with the flow, adapt, analyze, and optimize. And for the rest of the tasks, you can always use tools like Semrush.

Till then, happy marketing!

FAQs